


Only The Truth Can Heal

by SofiaIsChie



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: 40' AU, Alternate Universe - Detectives, F/M, Forced Prostitution, Smut, drugs use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-07-23 19:47:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7477530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SofiaIsChie/pseuds/SofiaIsChie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As soon as the war ended, Cullen Rutherford thought that working as a private detective for the inquisition was a good idea, but failing in love with his new neighbor and develop a big sexual attraction to a cabaret dancer was not.<br/>All of this was Dorian's fault.<br/>Sometimes attraction and love can led to the same person.<br/>-------<br/>Mid 40's AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: New beginning.

Well, the building was less than he spected, not that he would complain. The apartment wasn’t very big or too fancy, something he was thankful for. Cassandra had told him that she could get him a nice place to live, probably a pretty house or a nice flat with a view to the sea. But he had responded that it wasn’t his style and that he would find himself a place. Even thought, this wasn’t what he spected.

Many people had come to Denerim after the war, which caused that the city was over populated, and there were little places unoccupied. Even if Ferelden had come victorious in the war against Orlais, the life of the people did not improve. Too many people had gotten very poor and had ended up living in the streets or in any dishabitated house that they could find. 

Resigned to his bad luck, he walked inside the building, until he remembered something really important, “Tom! Come here buddy!” A mabari came out of the old car and the man petted the dogs head.

They entered into the building and started to climb the metal stairs, until they reached the fifty floor. There were only two doors, 501 and 502. “Five hundred and one, this is ours”, he said as he walked to the door and took the keys from the pocket of his cloak. When he tried to open the door, he couldn’t push it completely; it was too old and already broken. He thought that he should fix it later.

When he came inside, he found out that it was perfect for him, little and comfy, small and warm enough for the winter. Not really well maintained, but it wouldn't take too much to fix everything that was important on his own, which could keep him busy with something besides work, good thing. He inspectioned the apartment and found that Cassandra had put a bed in his bedroom and some furniture in the other rooms.

He went back to the car to take the few boxes he had brought. He returned to his apartment and started to unpack everything.

He didn’t keep many things, besides from his clothes and books. The only non-practical things he keeps were his old military uniform, old boots, a dagger, a gun without bullets and some pieces of newspapers and reports that now had little relevance. At the end of the box, under all the other things, his military necklace with his name written in the cold metal, Cullen Stanton Rutherford, soldier number 1624.

Even if he tried to forget his past as a soldier, we couldn’t get rid of those things. They reminded him how far he had come. 

The war had been terrible, the cruelty had come to everyone, and most of his comrades were dead or severely injured. Cullen had seen the horrors and just couldn’t forget them no matter how much he tried. 

He used to be a commander of the red lion squadron. One of the best military services of the Templars. Only the best soldiers were on it. He had become a good leader and strategist, as people would say.  
But to him, He wasn’t.

Some of Cullen’s soldiers didn’t make it and he was the he blamed himself for that. If he had been a better soldier, more of them could have been saved.  
Now the only thing left was a broken man.

Now, after six months since the end of the war, he had hoped to start a new life again. And thanks to his military antecedents, he had started to work as a detective for the inquisition, a group made between those from Ferelden and Orlais that believed that there could be peace and wanted to help people by fighting crime and poverty.

Cullen had been investigating some extremist group that had been reunited and caused violence acts against everyone. They were extremely organized and no one knew who they were. 

Once everything was on its place, he got out to eat something. The former soldier left his mabari in the apartment, sleeping. He came down the stairs and walked on the side way. Two blocks after, he found the local that Dorian had recommended. Cullen was supposed to meet with him there on the afternoon.

The place wasn’t really fancy, considering Dorian’s taste in restaurants. He sat at the barista and asked a simple sandwich. While he was eating, Cullen heard a familiar voice, “My dearest friend, did you miss me?” Dorian asked with his tevinter accent as he patted him in the shoulders.

“Oh, yes, of course.” Cullen responded with his sarcastic tone.

“You broke my heart” the man said with a false hurt look. He sat at his side, but didn’t eat anything,” So, how has it been?”

“Not that I can complain. Even thought I would like that the case wasn’t this difficult” Cullen signed, “But what about you? How has it been in the laboratory?”

“Quite good, I’ve been very useful with all the things that involve death and dead. You’d be surprised if I told you in how many ways you can kill someone with a piece of toilet paper” Cullen didn’t want to think about it. “Dagna has been making a good job there too, especially when it doesn’t involve any sort of deadly chemistry. Did you know that she had been fabricating some nice medical prosthesis?”

“I had no idea” the soldier responded.

“And Solas is still with his stoic face, until it comes to plants and weird medicine. And he gets every strange thing the inquisition sends to him. And do you know Vivienne?” Cullen nodded,” Well, when I meet her at the laboratory I just couldn’t believe that that woman actually fabricated and designed weapons “.

The laboratories where Dorian worked belonged to the inquisition and it had any type of scientist, who were always making new inventions as medicine or weapon and so on. Anything that could help the inquisition against crime and that could help the most needed people.

“Good to know that things have been well” Cullen said and added,” But I think it is time to speak about the case. You told me yesterday that you had some inform-“

“Hush” Dorian looked around the local, “They have spies everywhere and they have as target the inquisition members and others members of the government” He whispered, “But I know of a place where we can speak without been spied on. I’ll came back to get you at nine at your apartment, and dress up nicely”.

“What and where is that place?” Cullen was very intrigued.

“Well, I cannot tell you, but sadly, you’re going to enjoy it” he winked at him and left the place. 

Where was he going to take him?


	2. Desire and Disgust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes we like something and that makes us disgusted about ourselves for liking it.

 

It was already nine o’clock and it was getting very dark. Cullen was waiting for Dorian in his apartment and every minute that passes he was surer that his friend wasn’t coming. The mabari was sleeping on a blanket in the floor that Cullen had given to the dog to use it as a bed until he founded something more comfortable. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Cullen went to open it.

“I don’t understand what kind of place is open this late” Said the former soldier to Dorian who was standing outside of the apartment.

“Well, I needed a place where we could talk without people spying on us, a place where no one could expect me to be, where people were more busy doing other things than looking or hearing us” The tevinter crossed his arms, “ But enough talking, we should go now”. The pair went down the stairs and then outside of the building. Cullen had started to walk towards his car when Dorian stopped him, “You are seriously considering on that trash can of yours?”

Cullen said offended “Be more respectful to my car. It may be old, but it works just as fine as the day I bought it”.

“I’m sorry, but we are going in my car and I drive”.  Cullen nodded and went towards the other car. He knew that there was no way to convince Dorian.   To do otherwise and the only thing he could get from arguing with him would be a waste of time. Once they got into the car, he asked.

“So where are we going?” Dorian gives him an smirk.

“Not going to tell you yet, it is a surprise” the tevinter started to drive, “And you are not going to accept it until we are there”.

The travel went silent, probably because Cullen was trying to guess what place they were going. A pub?  Too obvious; A club? Same: An old building? Perhaps.

When Cullen had decided to investigate the case, he didn’t knew how dangerous it could be, which explained why Cassandra had recommended him for it. It was never easy with extremist and terrorist, especially if no one knew who they were or who lead them.

Soon they reached some of the hidden buildings in the highest part of the city, full of taverns, brothel and places to gambling. All of them dedicated to the richest people in the city. Dorian drove them through an alley until they reached a very fancy building. It had a very old style of architecture but it was well maintained, the walls were painted black with some detail in blue. At the front there was a big metal door with a little window on the tallest part.

Dorian parked the car, “Here we are” The men got out of the car and walked towards the building. The tevinter knocked the door and the little window opened reveling a man’s eyes.

“Reservation?” the man voice was low and firm.

“Uh, yes” Dorian started to search something in his pockets and took off a piece of paper which he read “Reservation dark desk number 128”. The man closed the window and opened the door.

“Please come inside and follow me” they did as he said and entered in to the building. They were now on the main hall, or so Cullen thought, which had walls painted in a dark red and detail in gold, with very fancy furniture and there was a quiet music playing. They walked across it until they reached a door at the right side of the hall. The man opened that door and let them in, “Your table is at the end, have a nice evening” and the man left.

The new room was decorated just like the hall, but it was like a restaurant with scenery in the middle of it. Some other men were sitting at their tables, drinking very fancy alcoholic’s drinks. Cullen followed Dorian to their desk at the other side of the room, where were a few men sitting at.

They sat on their table and a waiter came to them and asked what they would like t drink. “A whiskey” Cullen did not want to get any drunk.

“Tevinter wine for me” Dorian replayed as the waiter wrote on a small notebook.

“Enjoy the show” and he left.

“So…” Cullen looked seriously at the tevinter, “What is this place?” He had been trying to figure out what kind of place it was and there was only one answer, _But that couldn’t be, Dorian would never come to those places and neither would I,_ He thought. It had to be something else.

“Trust me, you are going to like this place even if I don’t, so don’t ruin the surprise” the waiter came and leaved their drinks in the table, Dorian drank some wine and continued to speak “So, now to business “. His tone of voice became more serious, “Leliana’s men said that a ship had arrived in the port that is in the lowest part of the city, curiously, very far from where the police patrols. Obviously they were doing something illegal “, Dorian drank another sip of wine, “And if it is a ship, they are probably contrabandist”.

“And what does this has to do with the case?” Cullen asked.

“Well, the friends of the Red Jenny found some posters in the place that were related with those extremist. But if you want to know more, you should go to speak with the friends of the red jenny, more specifically with Sera, who I may not really like but she does make a good job” Dorian drank more wine, “She is currently working or living, if they were different to her, in the old factory at the other side of the city. That one where they used to make shoes?”

“Yes, I know that place, its quiet hard to find, but I’ll get there”. Well, it was expected of Sera to hide in an old factory, especially since she was an elf, which meant she had to stay away as far as possible from the police, no matter that she worked on the inquisition. The police had been quiet racist with the elves and orlesians , which Sera was both. Not to mention that the extremist were too racist with elves, dwarves and qunaris , and they were the most attacked group. 

The light went off and those that were at the scenery went on, “I believe the show is begging”, Dorian said with a smirk on his face. A man appeared in the stage wearing a formal outfit and started to announce the show.

“Goodnight ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another show of the Sweet Boulevard. I hope you enjoy your drinks and food, but let it be our ladies the ones that make you all pleased here. I’ll not keep you waiting, so enjoy the show” the man left the scenery and the lights went off.

_A cabaret, Dorian brought him to a cabaret._ He was sure of it since they arrived, but a small part of him didn’t want to believe it. _Of course this was a place that Dorian wouldn’t be expected to be_ , he thought.

“I can’t believe you brought me to a cabaret” Cullen said annoyed.

“Hey! I needed a place where no spies would think it was me” The tevinter defended himself, “And you need to have fun, even if it is not the fun I personally like”.

Soon, the lights went o and a few women were at the stage, dressed in lingerie and very reveling clothes. Some got very close to the people sitting in the front, while others danced at the back. Cullen did find them attractive, but he felt more discomfort. It was not like he was a virgin, but there was this feeling of ‘they are just doing their work’, which he did not like. Especially if most of the men were shouting inappropriate things to them and throwing money at their feet’s.

Some dancers were human, others qunari and elves and dwarves. For all the tastes, apparently. After the song ended, the dancers leaved the stage and others appeared and danced as other song played and so on.

Dorian made a false cough to catch his friend attention, “I know they are distracting, I would be distracted to if they were more _masculine,_ but we have business to talk about, don’t we?”

Cullen felt very ashamed and blushed, “Umh…y-yes, I’m sorry…”.

“Well, Josephine got some information, and there was a report of a templar’s ship stolen, it was the same model as the ship that arrived. Tevinter fabrication it seems”. The former soldier looked at his fiend’s eyes and saw the internal battle between his feelings about his homeland.  He hated and loved at the same time his country, and he was determinate to change it for good, even if he was against his own father in that task.

“Why would the Templars buy a ship from tevinter? All of the military stuff is bought from Ozammar directly”. It didn’t make sense to Cullen, since the military transports made in Ozammar by the dwarves had the highest quality and it wasn’t too expensive.

“I have no idea, but I suspect that the extremist group has stolen it and that they maybe are related to those terrorist from tevinter”. There was a very dangerous group in tevinter called the venatoris that make terrorist attacks all over the continent and they believed that the old Tevinter had to rebuild to put some order in the world.

They were interrupted when the director of the show speaked again. “Well, now the moment you have been all waiting. She is beautiful and graceful, delicate and pure as an angel. Let me present you the lovely and pretties girl in the city, if not in Ferelden… my gorgeous white swan!”

A woman appeared in the stage, and Cullen thought he had never seen a woman attractive as her in his life, even if he couldn’t see her face behind the mask she was wearing. She was an elven, with her pointed ears coming out of her short, curled and blonde hair. She had very long legs, that weren’t too skinny like most elves had. Neither her body type was like the others of her people, with wide hips and a small waist, graceful arms and tiny hands. Her breast was big compared to the other elves, but perfect for her body. The white dress she was wearing was perfect for her.

She had a shy smile with her lips colored red, but her smile was very false, Cullen noticed. Her dance was very graceful and sensual, but there was a feeling of disgust on it. Like she did not want to be there. However, he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.

Most the men were shouting things to her, telling that she should touch herself or to strip off her clothes, with some at the front petting their laps inviting her to sit on them. And he could see all the disgust on her eyes.

Cullen felt a feeling strange that started to grow up on his chest. The sudden urgency to put his jacket on her shoulders and to take her out of there, to a place where she could be happy.

But there was also the disgusting lust he felt towards her. The wanting of kissing her, to touch her and to make her his. Cullen hated that feeling. He had been with some women, normally just shorts affairs and nothing more, of course that before the war. During the conflict he had been too concentrated on his soldiers and his survival that he didn’t pay attention to the other genre. Not even to the ladies that would try to give him a _reward_ at the military station.

Some ladies at the inquisition had flirted with him, most of them wanting a more serious relationship or some just a one night stand. Dorian had teased him about some secretaries and Lelianna had told him about how attracted to him was lady Travelyan.

And yet, there he was, pinning for a dancer he hadn’t see for more than ten minutes.

The music stopped and so her dance did. She made a little reverence to the public, who clapped at her presentation. The director entered to the stage and took her hand and kissed it.

“Claps for the most beautiful woman in all Denerim!” The public was still clapping their hands, but Cullen just couldn’t, not wanting to be a part of her disgust. “Well my dear guests, remember that the money account grows every night she dances, so be sure to save enough money to be the first to lay between her beautiful legs”.

_Wait, she was virgin? They are selling her first time?_ , Cullen thought. Women were supposed to have her first time with someone who they loved and that loved them back, not with a man who only cared about what was between her legs. _How abusive could be some people just to win money._

“I hope no one gets to paid it, for her sake”, Dorian said abruptly. The woman left the stage and the director continued speaking.

“Remember that we have the most discrete rooms for those who want some extra service for our girls and that you can ask in the main hall for the one you prefer to spend the night with” The man left and everyone got up from their sits and leaved the cabaret.  Cullen looked at Dorian seriously and annoyed.

“Oh, come ‘on! I’m pretty sure that you enjoyed it, didn’t you?” The men got out of the place and they sat on the car.

“Next time, take me to a more descent place”, Cullen said as he started to drive home.

“All right, but I can made no promises”.

During the whole trip and even when he got in to his apartment, he could stop thinking about her. How beautiful she was and how much she was suffering. How much lust and compassion he felt towards her. How much he wanted to have her, and how much he wanted to free her.

Cullen knew he was lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter took me so long, mostly because i was on holydays and i didn't have my computer.  
> I hope you like this chapter.


	3. Correlations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cullen thinks about his past and last night.  
> And sometimes, things are worse than it they look.

Cullen woke up in the morning. The morning sunlight illuminated a bit the old bedroom. Everything was calm as any Sunday and just a few sounds of the cars in the street could be heard. And yet, the world felt like a strange place.

His dream was the strangest thing.

He was walking around the country side; the sun was up in the sky and illuminated the yellow flowers that moved with the low wind. He looked around and saw a woman walking towards him.

The dancer of last night.

She was wearing a simple white dress and a hat with flowers as decorations, and it covered her face from her nose and up. She danced and smiled, not as she had done on the club. Everything she did was full of innocence.

Cullen walked towards her and their hands were almost touching when…

The ground opened and hands that came out of it started to drown her in to the hole. As they sink her, they started to touch every part of her body and Cullen had tried to save her. The woman tried to escape and screamed, but no sound came from her throat.

When she was gone, Cullen looked around the field, and the sky was grey and the sounds of bombs filled the place. He was at the battlefield once more.

He saw how some soldiers, of his own unit, were trying to run to a safest place. Cullen shouted at them, trying to make them come to where he was. Only two hundred meters and they would be safe. And then an airplane crossed the sky throwing a bomb.

The bomb fell where his soldiers were.

And the nightmare had ended.

He was used to those kinds of nightmares where he remembered the worst parts of the war. The horrors he had seen would never get out of his mind, and Cullen was resigned just to cope with them. But he hadn’t expected the dream with that dancer.

_You are just thinking too much about it,_ He told to himself. He had to distract himself from that dream, he decided to eat breakfast. Cullen prepared some coffee and ate a piece of bread with cheese and butter. After that, he took a fast shower and dressed up formally.

He had work to do.

Today, the former soldier had to go to speak with Sera about that strange ship that Dorian told him about last night. The Friends of the Red Jenny were one of the best spy groups, they were quick and silent, acting before their enemy could notice. They knew how to infiltrate in almost all organizations and groups, with no one suspecting anything. The inquisition was lucky to have them as allies, even thought, most of the time they used theirs skill to steal from the wealthiest and give the money to the poorest.

He went to the small room he was using as a temporary office, or so he told Cassandra. Even if they were going to give him his own office in the inquisition base, known as Skyhold, he wouldn’t risk to the possibility that someone could steal all the information he had gathered. So, it was safer to have it all in his home. There was a little desk and a chair, and a piece of wood was standing on one of the walls, which worked as a board where he collected all his clues.

He took a little note book and wrote what Dorian had told him.

  * A templar ship.
  * Arrived at the lowest part of the city.
  * Tevinter fabrication and not Ozammar?
  * Posters promoting the extremist group at the port where the ship arrived.
  * The Friends of the Red Jenny know about it.



Cullen placed the note at the board, just at the side of the map where the port was located on it. He studied everything carefully searching for a single clue. Suddenly he saw down on the floor, a piece of a newspaper from last month.

-ONE FORMER SOLDIER GOT LOST. IT IS THE FIFTH CASE IN THE WEEK-

He saw another at the side of it.

-TWO BODIES FOUND- Yesterday two corpses were found by the police…

Cullen read the rest of the article and found something.

-…The two bodies were found by the police at the port in the lowest part of the city.-

_If the two bodies were found at the same place that the Tevinter ship was, they could be possible related,_ He thought. _And maybe the bodies belonged to those lost soldier._ The rest of the article said that the bodies were unrecognizable, that they were too deformer, with their heads smashed and legs broken. But there was something very strange on them, a red substance in their organs. The police thought that it was a type of coral that grows in the ocean near the port.

He had to spoke with Sera before he got to any conclusion, since she probably knew something else or he could ask her to look for some clues.

He prepared his bag to travel to the fabric. He took his old gun just in case it was necessary, even though it had no bullets on it. _At least he could intimidate someone if necessary._ He packed some plastics bags, a couple of crystal jars, his note book and a pen.

“Tom, come here buddy!” The mabari that had been sleeping woke up and ran towards his owner moving his little tail exited. Tom had been his friend since the middle of the war, when they had assigned Cullen a mission were he would had to find a group of Orlesian soldiers. The general had said that the mabaris would help them to find their enemy thanks to their good smell. He became attached to the dog quickly. When the mission had ended, they took the dog to take a long rest, since for most of them, their job in the war was over. When Cullen renounced to the army, he asked to the general if he could keep the mabari. Surprisingly, he had agreed, and now the dog remained by his side living a life of a domestic dog, but also helping Cullen with his investigations.

He left his apartment and got in to the car with the mabari sitting at the back. Cullen started to drive through the streets that didn’t had too many cars, since most people didn’t had to work on Sundays, unlike him, whose job was at all hours and the seven days of the week.

Denerim was like any other city, loud and active most of the days. And he still wondered why he had come to live to this place, even when the former soldier preferred the countryside and the small towns, full of tranquility and peace, _maybe if the country hadn’t been destroyed and the fields burned during the war…_

He passed the merchants streets and then one of the lowest parts, where most of it habitants were elves, that had been forced to move to the outsides of the city because of all the racism towards them. The inquisition had been trying to help them, they came with food and basic supplies every week. King Alistair had been also helping, by providing shelter houses and jobs opportunities to them and to the other races. But no one can change the culture of racism from one day to another, even if the elves were the most damaged ones during the war with Orlais.

After some time, he reached the old industrial district, full of old buildings that had plants making their way in to them. He drove until he saw the old shoes factory. The building was very big, with tall grey walls that were falling apart.

Cullen got out of the car with Tom and they entered in to it. The celling was broken and some holes let the sunlight enter in to it, illuminating some of the leaves of the plants that had made it in to the factory.

“See’ya who is here!” A female voice cried. _Sera_ , Cullen recognized her voice instantly. The girl came down from the metallic stairs almost jumping her way towards him. Her blonde hair was very bad cut, her hazel eyes full of playfulness  and there was a smirk on her face, unlike most women, Sera was dressed up with pants and a male blouse.

“Good to see you too Sera” Cullen greeted her and the mabari ran towards the girl very excited.

“What are ya’ and my crime partner doing here?” She asked as she petted the dog’s head.

“Dorian told me that the Friends of the Red Jenny, especially you, had gotten some information about a ship that arrived at the port in the lowest part. Tevinter fabrication”, Sera giggled at his comment.

“So, even after the war you have a stick up on your arse? Ya’ll need some rest and eat cookies. Especially you little-fufu-bubbu” She said with the tone of voice that most people used to talk to their pets or babies, as she rubbed the mabari’s belly. “Well, we find some really weird crap over there. Some pamphlets that probably belong to those creepy extremist”, She took off a piece of paper from her pants pocket and handed it to Cullen, who put it in his bag, “We also found the weirdest shit that I had ever seen”, A little bottle of glass was handed to the man, that contained a very strange substance of color red that glowed.

“What is this?” He asked concerned.

Sera shake her head, “No fucking idea, but you should take it to the laboratory of the inquisition”. Cullen was sure that it was the same thing that was found on the soldiers bodies. “Also” Sera continued,” We found out who bought the ship…it was the Lord Seeker Lucius”.

“Wait, are you saying that it’s probably that the Seekers of Truth are involved on this?” Cassandra had told him that at the end of the war, she had got no word from the rest of the seekers, and that the Chantry through them dead. The seekers were the Chantry’s military forces, acting when the faith was threated, but during the war, they protected more the interest, economics and politics, of its religious organization. And since the Chantry’s base was at Orlais, they had sided with them against Ferelden, or at least no officially. Divine Justinia had tried to stay as neutral as possible, but those who supported Orlais at the Chantry were too many.

“I don’t know, that’s all we have. If we find something else, we’ll send it to you, See’ya!” And Sera disappeared in to the darkness of the fabric.

“Good bye and thank you Sera” Cullen said farewell and left from the factory with his dog. They were on the way to the old apartment and Cullen opened the window of his car so his mabari could take out his head. He never understood why dogs liked to take the head out of the windows.

The travel was quiet and there wasn’t too much traffic, so Cullen thought that it wouldn’t take too long to reach his house, and maybe he could take the rest of the day free to relax. It would be nice to go for a walk with his pet and get to know better the city. And the fresh air was good for his health

They were stopped at a red light, and before Cullen could react, Tom jumped out of the window. “Maker! TOM! COME HERE!” the man shouted to the dog, which was already running through the streets.

Good, now he had just lost his mabari.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came out very easy, but i got a little confused about the case, even if i invented it.  
> And i may need some help with it, so feel free to send me a message to my tumblr my-ships-taste-like-sugar.  
> The mabari is lost and Curly is worried.  
> Next chapter will be very exiting !


	4. Good and bad luck

Evaneil had just arrived from her morning shift, tired and sleepy, and let herself fell on the bed. It had been a very exhausting day, the special sale of pancakes and coffee had double the numbers of clients at the café. The only good thing about that was that maybe her boss would give her some extra payment. The girl sat and took off her shoes, her sore foot very swollen from all the time that she had been walking and standing up.  
She got up from the bed, and went towards her dressing table, were she sat at the little chair in front of it. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, a part of her makeup was ruined and her eyes had dark circles around of them. The green eyes were tired and almost closing themselves. Evaneil took off the rest of make up with some cream and comb the messy blonde strands of hair. When she was finished, she took out from the pocket of her uniform the coins that she had received as tip today. She walked towards her bed and took the jar that was hidden under the mattress, putting the money inside.  
Her waitress uniform came off as she unbuttoned it, leaving her in a white blouse and her tights. Evaneil took the nightgown that was under the pillow; the blouse fell and left her in only her smalls. The looked at herself on the dressing mirror and felt digusted.  
Too pretty and too vulgar.  
Trying to stop the feeling, she went towards the bed and took off her bra, the tights and the suspender belt, and put the night gown on. Before she went to sleep, she had to take care of some preparations, so the girl reached the dressing mirror and started to put on her hair the hair rollers.  
It took her more time than other days, probably because she was very tired, even if she had gotten faster at the hair task. As soon as the hair was curled and every blonde strand was on a roller, Evaneil got under the blankets and tried to get some sleep. There was work to do tonight, and no dark circles under her eyes were allowed.  
If she had any dreams, she wouldn’t remember them and didn’t want to. It would be only nightmares and bad memories to make her life more miserable than it already was.  
When Evaneil woke up, it was already seven, a god time to get up to work. She looked at the mirror to search for any eye bags that didn’t dissapered with her sleep. There were none of it, so she went to the bathroom to get ready. She filled the tube with hot water and putted on it some of the oil with rose fragrance that had been gifted to her to make the skin softer and to have a delectable smell. She got totally undressed and laid on the tube.  
She should enjoy a bath just like any other woman, but all the complications that it had made it difficult to find some relieve on it. She had to worry about what soap and which shampoo, how much fragrance and which one, no imperfection was allowed on her body, shave between one or two days. It was tiring and the girl wished that one day she would be able to worry less about how she looked and just to be more herself.  
After fithteen minutes, she got out of the tube and dried up with a towel. Evaneil got in to her room and took from her closet a simple dress, clean underwear, tights and a suspender belt. Her face came after; she freed her perfect curls and put some very light make up, careful of not looking too vulgar. A jacket came on then and a little hat.  
She was dressed as any normal girl would, _but you are not normal_ , she reminded herself, _you can’t have that privilege_.  
Evaneil got some of her stuff in her bag and went to eat something at the kitchen. She was eating, when a sound came to her ears. It was kind of a moan, but an animalistic one and like claws scratching wood. She opened the door just a little to see what was going on, and to her surprise…it was a mabari.  
The dog was trying to open the door that led to the opposite apartment, the one were her new neighbour was living. If the dog tried to enter there, maybe it belonged to him? She had never seen her new neighbor during the first two days since his arrival. She was out of her apartment most of the time, so she had little time left to meet those who lived close to her.  
The mabari noticed her and came towards the girl, he smelled her and gived her a growl of approval. Evaneil petted his head,” Hello little boy, are you lost?” the dog moved happily his tail and smelled her hand in search for food, “Are you hungry?” She had some time left before going to work, and she didn’t want to left the dog alone. The girl went to the kitchen and took a piece of jam that the mabari happily ate.  
She stayed with the dog, petting his belly for some time. After ten minutes, she took her things and closed the door, she would wait just five more minutes or she would be very late. _And Mister Sulivain didn’t like when she was late_.  
To her luck, the sound of steps coming up the stairs called the mabari attention, who ran towards the end of the stairs, to great what would be his owner. Evaneil had expected a lot of things from the new neighbor, but never that kind of man.  
A very handsome man.  
“Tom! Here you are! You scared me, never do that again!” The man petted his dogs head. He had blonde hair and hazel eyes, and a goddam scar crossing the right side of his lip. As soon as the man noticed her, he asked, “Did you find him, miss?”  
“I’d rather say that he came here alone, I just found him at the entry of your apartment. I gave him a piece of jam, he looked really hungry, is that okay?” She asked.  
“Oh…” He looked distracted, “Yes, I mean…thank you”.  
“You’re welcome then” She smiled a little, “I believe we are neighbors” He nodded in agreement.  
“I’m Cullen, miss, a please to meet you” He offered his hand to her, and she took it.  
“I’m Evaneil, sir, a please to meet you too, but I’m afraid that I must leave now. Have a good evening sir”. He said goodbye to her as she left down the stairs.  
Well, that was strange. She had expected anything but that. He was very handsome indeed, maybe too handsome, and he seemed nice and kind. He had looked at her face while they spoke, something not too many men did. They preferred to look a little bit down of her face.  
As she walked down the street to the bus stop, Evaneil could feel some of the men’s eyes on her. She tried to cover herself with her jacket and to look undisturbed by their flattery, or more like their harassment comments. For her luck, the bus had already arrived and she came in as fast as she could and sat at the back, were no one would pester her.  
She hated this. All the sexual harassment she experimented all the days. And the worst thing was that her job consisted on it, not the waitress one, but that one. Evaneil should already be used to that kind of treatment, and yet, _Is it too much to ask for some respect?_  
Evaneil left the bus at the stop that was close to the high part of the city and walked until she reached the back entry of the old building. She got in to the dressing room, where most of the dancers were dressing up or practicing their choreography. Most of them ignored her as she passed towards her dressing table, but only one came towards her.  
“Evaneil!” A elven girl of the same age hugged her.  
“Hello Merrill” Merrill was her best friend and the only one at the cabaret. They became quickly friends when she had started to work there. The fact that the two of them were elven helped a lot, it made Evaneil to not to feel so lonely. Merrill was a little bit taller than her and slimmer, with very dark and short hair. She used to have a more toned skin, but it had become paler since the colder climate had started. She was very pretty with an awkwardness that made her cuter. The other elven girl looked very excited as she said.  
“You have no idea of what has happened!” Evaneil inclined her head curious. Merril showed her friend her hand, and in one of her fingers, a golden ring shinned. Evaneil got very excited.  
“Did Hawke ask you to marry him?” Merrill and Hawke had been together since two years, and Evaneil guessed by the way that her friend spoke of her lover, that they were really, really in love. Merrill nodded and the other girl hugged and congratulated her. “I’m so happy for the both of you, but…” There was one little thing, “Don’t let Sulivain know this…”. Mister Sulivain didn’t like when their dancers got close to another person, _I don’t want you to get ruined, or there would be consequences_ , he had said.  
Merrill and some other girls had told her when she started to work there, that there was another dancer, who Sulivain saw with her boyfriend. It didn’t end well, the girls had said that they could still hear the sound of the belt against the skin and her screams. They didn’t knew what happened to her after.  
“I know… but I’m more worried that he finds out that I work here…”.  
“WAIT! Are you telling me that he doesn’t know that you work here?” Merrill looked at the floor ashamed. “Merrill, you must tell him. He loves you and won’t care that you work here. I think that he would even understand it”.  
“I know, but I just can’t… “ as Merrill was going to continue talking, Madame Greta entered in to the dressing room. She was old, but she was proud of it, with her body having still the form of a ballerina.  
“Evaneil! Merrill! Stop talking and get prepare!” The woman disappeared of the room.  
“Well, I think that we’ll talk later, see you” The elven girl left the room resigned.  
Evaneil started to get prepared for the performance, following the note that was on her dressing desk. This Sunday was midnight theme, which meant that she would have to use the dark blue corset that had some detail in white and silver. And some of the silver jewels and blue make up. Madame Greta had made sure that she used one of the fanciest lingerie sets on the cabaret, saying that jewels would make her look more sophisticated.  
As she dressed and started to put her makeup on, Mister Sulivain appeared behind her. “The blue looks exquisite on you, my little bird”, he took the silver necklace with fake diamonds and putted around her neck, and then he caressed her shoulders and down to her arms. Evaneil knew that he complimented her when he needed her to do something. “Today I have some special guests that paid to have a private dinner after the spectacle, and requested some of my finest girls to serve the food and the drinks. And they offered a silver bag of coins for you to be there too with the others. Would you like some extra money?”. He knew she would say yes, the elven girl was desperate for some extra money, with the bank threating her to take her apartment with all her things.  
“I don’t really have a choice, so I accept”  
“Good choice my little bird” He petted her shoulders and took her mask, “But now I need my little bird to become the wonderful white swan, Could you do that for me?” She nodded and he putted the mask on her face and left her.  
She fixed the last details on her makeup and her lingerie suit. When she was ready, Evaneil waited at the back of the stage, with other dancers. As the last group of dancers started, the girl got herself ready.  
Soon, the dancers finished and her theme started to play. She made it to the stage and started her sensual dance, each step doing with a careful grace. It was complicated, the lingerie and the high heels weren’t to comfortable for this sort of movements, but she had enough practice to do it almost perfect.  
Even if Evaneil couldn’t see the faces of the men at the public with the lights of the stage, she felt their lustful eyes on her, filling her with nausea. There were times where she wished she could just run from them and hide of their eyes. But she couldn’t, she needed the money.  
_And you can’t make Mister Sulivain angry._  
As her dance finished, the girl could hear their obscene comments and Mister Sulivain came to the stage and took her hand to kiss it, “This was my lovely white swan! Claps for her” the room was filled with the sound of men clapping their hands, “And remember her money account, She is very excited to lay with the luckiest man on Denerim!”.  
The money account, _the fucking virginity account._  
Evaneil hated it with all of her soul. One of these days a man with enough money was going to come and pay for her first time. _They will pay to rape you_ , a dancer had said to her. Just the thought of someone touching her intimate parts made her want to vomit.  
When she returned to the dressing room, there was a sexy maid outfit waiting for her on the chair. She dressed up, and found kind of funny of how the skirt it had was too short, making impossible for her to actually work as a waitress on it. Evaneil combed her hair in a half bun, tying it with a black ribbon that matched her black and white outfit.  
Sulivain’s office was full of dancers, who were also wearing maid outfits, just that theirs left little to the imagination. As she came inside, she could feel their eyes of hatred on her, of envy and jealously. One of them, Marceline she could tell, spoke to them with a harsh tone, “So Sulivain brought his favorite bitch. And we thought you were too pure for this kind of things”, the last comment full of derision.  
“It would be a pity that one of those men had enough money to pay for split your pussy in two and ride you until you bleed”, Another girl said, “But wouldn’t that be a spectacle worth to see, don’t you all think?”. The rest of the girls laughed and continue to mock her.  
“I bet that he is going to be an old fat man who’s going to fuck all your holes”.  
“And then she’ll loss all her beauty”. Evaneil wanted to run from there, from their laughs and comments. She felt ashamed of everything she was. A prostitute had more respect than her. _A cabaret dancer that hides behind a mask and that sales her body and first time to the richest one_. Tears formed at her eyes, but you can let them see you broken, she reminded to herself.  
“Where is Evaneil?!” Madame Greta made it in to the office. She supervised them all, choosing what would they wear, what would they dance and when. If they looked healthy, if they had any imperfection on their bodies, in order to provide the most perfects girls in Denerim . The old woman noticed her, “There you are girl, come here”. The elven girl went towards her as she handled a handkerchief, “Take off your lipstick. I need you to colour them with the same tone as your vaginal lips”. Evaneil was shocked and the others giggled.  
“W-What?!”  
“The gentlemen wanted a first glace of you, but Sulivain didn’t want to show your intimate parts”, Greta handled her a box with different colors of lipstick, but the girl had no idea of which one, how would she know that? She looked confused and the older woman understood. “Oh come here darling, lift you skirt”. Evaneil did as she said, and she moved her small to one side to look, “Very well, they match almost naturally, so I’ll just put some lip gloss to resalt them”.  
“Girls!!” Mister Sulivain entered in to his office, “Are you all ready?” The girls nodded, “Very good, now I need you to walk on a line, one behind another”. They positioned themselves, and Marceline putted herself at the front of it, and when Evaneil was going to stand between the others, the man stopped her. “No my white swan, I need you to go at the end”. And so, the elven girl did as she was told.  
Once they were all ready, they walked towards the dining room on the second floor of the cabaret, where it was more of a brothel than a dancing club. The place was very well decorated, with fancy furniture and a chandelier on its ceiling. Six men, she could tell, were sitting on the luxury sofas, and they smiled as the girls entered. They hadn’t noticed her yet, but she could feel their hungry eyes looking at the others.  
“My gentlemen, let me present you my best girls, and probably the more beautiful ones in all Denerim”, As they entered, they gave a little reverence.  
They started to serve the food and Evaneil had decided to serve the champagne. As she walked serving it, the men looked at her long legs, which the short skirt left exposed. Some of the girls were already sitting on some of the men’s laps, or just sitting very close to them. A man had started to squeeze Marceline breast, and she moaned in return. The elven girl was just too uncomfortable with the situation, but she knew how to keep her feeling from showing on her face.  
“So Sulivain, did you get rid of those fools soldiers? Our boss doesn’t want any traitor on his ranks”.  
“Well, I made sure that one of my girls poisoned him before we throw him in to the sea”. _Wait, Sulivain had killed someone?_ Evaneil thought shocked. She knew that with managing a cabaret club would bring him some relations with the local mafia, but to go as far to kill a man, by using one of your workers. Then he was far more dangerous than she thought at first.  
“Good to hear that. I wouldn’t doubt that they would have go to that fucking inquisition and tell them our plans”.  
As the evening continued, Evaneil keep doing her job, even if the fact that the men belonged to the mafia scared her as fuck. Everything was going normally, until a man called for her as he petted his lap. ”Hey little! Do you want to sit here?”. _No,no,no,no! Get away from me_. But before she could say something stupid, Sulivain came walking towards her and rested his hands on her shoulders.  
“I’m very sorry my friend, but she is my mayor treasure here, so you must pay more than the others to have her on your lap”. Don’t sell me, don’t sell my virginity, please! Evaneil wanted to leave and cry out of fear, what if Sulivain sold her virginity to him tonight? But what he said next relieved her, “But you can touch her in any other part than her legs and waist, or to kiss her”.  
The man looked concerned, but accepted any ways, “For what is worth, I’ll give you the money”.Evaneil walked towards him and sat on his lap. The man moved his hips a little, and she could fell his erection between her legs. “You are very pretty, aren’t you?” he whispered in to her ear,” I couldn’t keep my eyes off you”, is hips trusted in to her. “I wonder how much your virginity worth is. I only want to split your legs apart and trust my big dick in to your pink pussy. I bet you are tight and wet down there".  
The girl wanted to throw out and scape. But she had to be controlled; _you don’t want to make Mister Sulivain angry_. But what came next was _terrifying_.  
“Sulivain! How much to have her virginity?!” Sulivain just smiled to him.  
“How much do you think it is worth?”, the man asked.  
“A five hundred gold coins!” He said very sure.  
“Not even close” Sulivain answered.  
The man looked surprised, “Then bring me another!” He demanded. Silvia, a woman with long black hair and blue eyes came towards him. When Evaneil had started to leave, the man grabbed her arm and whispered to her, “I will eventually have you my love”.  
Evaneil almost panicked, but for her luck, the dinner had already ended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took so long and it is too long.


	5. An selfless help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, some help is needed to face our problems.  
> And we tendo to have a crush on someone very quicly.

The skin had turned red because of how much she had rubbed it with the sponge, and the hot water burned it, making it redder. It hurt, but not as much as the feeling from last night. Evaneil felt dirty and disgusted on every way possible. Disgusted of her work, disgusted of that man, disgusted of Mister Sulivain, of the men of the public, disgusted of her life, of her body.

Of herself.

This was the second time she bathed on the day. The first time was as soon as she arrived from her work, almost crying in panic. She had wanted to take off all the things from her that belonged to her work. The elven girl just wanted to be herself again.

She had gotten to sleep, but the nightmares were horrible and when Evaneil had woke up, she was trembling and sweating cold. Even if she tried, the sleep had not returned and the sun was starting to rise. And as she had gotten up to prepare herself for her job, she had looked at herself on the mirror.

Evaneil ended up throwing up on the toilet. Thing that brought her to the sate she was now.   _I hate them! I hate them all! Why me? Why? Wasn’t I a good student or daughter? Then, what did I do to deserve this? Someone please take me out of this miserable life! I can’t take it anymore…_

If she could get out of her own skin, she would. But she was resigned to her fate, there was no way to escape from it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“So, you are telling me that you didn’t know that Lord Seeker Lucius had bought that ship?” Cullen was surprised that Cassandra, being very close to the Lord Seeker, hadn’t known of it.

“I had no idea. Lord Lucius kept to many secrets of the seekers from themselves”, Cassandra looked very concerned, “There are lot of things that I didn’t even know…” Cullen felt the guilt on her words, “I was just too confident that I knew everything, and now…”

“Don’t beat yourself, Cass” The former soldier tried to console her, “Many of us didn’t even knew all of our bosses intentions…”

“But I should have tried harder. I hope that it is only someone using his name, and that the rest of the seekers didn’t had anything to do with this”. The woman walked towards the window and looked to the active city. Cullen could felt the concern on her, they were friends after all. “Cullen…” She said quietly, “How had it been? The lyrium I mean”.

“Nothing I can’t endure”, _apart from the high fever, nauseas and the nightmares, I’m good!_ He added on his head. Cassandra only looked with a no very trusting look. She had too many things to worry about his rehab, he could go though it alone.

“I don’t really believe you, but you’re too stubborn to actually tell me the truth, so I’ll just tell you that you must be very careful”. She knew him too well.

“I know-“

“No one has ever tried to accomplish it without coming out mentally unstable or actually alive” The seeker gave him the kind of look that a mother gives to her son when he refuses to putt his sweater when it’s cold outside,” And I respect you a lot for trying anyways”. Cassandra walked around her desk and looked at some papers, “You should work on your new office, I’m pretty sure that you’ll be more productive on it”.

“I know Cass, but I prefer having everything on my house. it is less probably that someone could stole something from it”, _old habits die hard, especially if keeping his information safe from enemies could keep innocent people safe._

“There’s something else…” The woman added, “There has been reports of strange activity on the grey wardens’ military bases. Leliana told me that they were buying tons of carbon and other explosive substances”.

“I see…I’ll try to look on to that after I send the strange substance that Sera gave to me to the laboratory”. He would have to go tomorrow to the inquisition laboratory, were Dorian works and hopeful, he or another of the Scientifics will know what was the strange red thing.

“Well, that’s all for now, I’ll keep you informed” They said good bye to each other and he left the office. He had reached the first floor when a voice called for him.

“Cullen!”, Antoniette, the former soldier recognized her at first sight. She was a couple of years younger than him, and they had meet during the war. “It’s been so long!”.

“Good morning Antoniette, how have you been?”, the woman hadn’t really changed that much, her black hair had grown a little and her face didn’t reveal a single trace of stress. She was pretty, with blue eyes and long black hair, perfectly curled. Some freckles adorned her flushed face and her long eyelashes just highlighted her eyes. _But Evaneil was prettiest._

_Wait what?!!_

_Maker breath! why did his brain remembered his neighbor now?_

“Fine, just a little bit lonely”, Cullen came back to reality as she started to get closer to him. Antoniette was flirting with him, he knew about her feelings for him, but he couldn’t return them. “We should go out one day, maybe to that antivan restaurant that everyone talks about now”.

“It sounds nice, but I’m a little busy with work”. The disappointment was on her face, but she keep her attitude.

“That’s a pity, I was hoping I could steal some of your time. Anyways, see you later, Cullen”.

“See you later Antoniette”. The woman left and the only thing that he could thought was why he had just thought that Evaneil was prettiest. It was such a random comment. Cullen remember her, Short and blonde hair, soft face features, long and athletics legs, and the most beautiful green eyes he had seen on his life. There was a shyness on her, but also a gentleness that gave her a feeling of innocence. _At the contrary of the dancer._

He also remembered her, with her almost perfect proportions, perfect lips and elven hears. That dancer was the most beautiful woman he had seen in his life. He hadn’t been able to forget about her and how vulnerable she looked, almost begging for protection.

He had to clean out his mind, maybe by working or walking around. Just anything that could get _her_ out of his mind. He walked down the very crowned street, full of people walking from one side to another. The buildings were mostly tall and their walls had lost their original colors. Some of them were still being reconstructed, trying to repair what was destroyed during the war. Yet, something had changed.

It was full of memorials and monuments in honor of those who fell during the war. Almost every building had a metal plate with the name of those who died during the attack on the city or those soldiers that were close to the people working there. At the little park that marked the center of the city, a statue had been built, with soldiers and mabaris made of stone. The place was full of flowers that people brought to it, and the many candles were off, and would be lighted on during the night.

He looked at the big stone that had every name of every soldier that died or couldn’t be found. Some of those didn’t have their names wrote, because their bodies couldn’t be identified by any one. He recognized many soldiers at the mortuary and many more on the battle field whose bodies couldn’t be returned to their families.

Suddenly, he felt ten years older, and an immense sorrow that filled every inch of his body. He couldn’t stand any longer looking at it. If he had been a better commander, some of them wouldn’t have died and could have returned to their families.

He walked out of the park in search of a place to eat. The main streets were full of restaurants, some of them very fancy and others, well…they didn’t look very trusting. He found a café, that luckily, did look decent and affordable.

The inner walls were dark greened and it was full of tables at the side of the windows. Many people were eating there, working at the same time. The waitresses moved from one side to the other, taking orders or serving the food, cleaning and some talking with the costumers. He sat on a table at the side of the window and looked at the menu. It didn’t had anything fancy, perfect for Cullen.

“May I take your order?” a very familiar female voice sounded. Cullen looked at the waitress and found a nice surprise.

“Hello, Evaneil!” The girl was very concentrate on something, but as he greeted her she got surprised.

“Mr. Cullen? Hello!” She smiled to him, but it wasn’t a natural smile. The former soldier could see the eyes bags that rounded the very tied eyes. And she looked sad, very sad. Tired and stressed.

“How have you been?” He asked out nicely.

“It could be worse” she took off from the pocket of her uniform a little notebook, “What would you like to eat?”.

“One of those simple sandwich and a drink”, The girl wrote it on her notebook.

“It will be ready on a minute” She left towards the kitchen. Cullen had to admit it, she looked a kind of cute on that waitress uniform. With her mess hair and dirty apron on.  _Maker breath! You have just talked to her a couple of times, why are you thinking of her on that way._ But she seemed like a kind and intelligent woman, with an air of innocence around her.

He tried to concentrate at what was outside of the window to distract himself. _You truly need to sort things out, don’t you?_ It was the second time of the day that he thought of his new neighbor on that way. _Does she have a fiancé or a husband? Not because I’m interested on her, but holy Andraste! She is very attractive and adorable; it would be strange if no man or woman had tried to court her. Maker ass! Control yourself Rutherford!_

The elf came out of the kitchen and went to take another order at a table were an old man was sitting. As she took his order, the former soldier noticed how the fingers of the man were caressing the side of her hips. Evaneil looked clearly uncomfortable and stressed as she made her way back to the kitchen, and then…

The old man smacked her arse and laughed. Evaneil only walked faster to the kitchen.

Cullen felt his blood boil on anger. How did that son of a bitch dare to do that to any woman and then laugh on amusement? _Fucking Andraste! The girl was doing her job, have some respect!_ Evaneil went out of the kitchen with his order and looked really nervous, with her hands shaking as she left the food on the desk. Her green eyes avoiding any contact with his. Cullen couldn’t take the need of helping her, so he took her hand gently, making her look at him. “If you want me to punch his face, you just have to ask”.

She gave him a little smile, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine, I’m quite use to it”. She left and he could avoid to feel bad for her, in what kind of world was allowed to people to disrespect others on that way?  Cullen saw how she left to the table where the old man was sitting. When she left the food on it, he started to pet her arse again and whispered something to her ear. She literally froze and looked terrified as she ran to the kitchen.

Cullen couldn’t take it anymore, so he stand up and walked towards the man, who was laughing at himself. The former soldier took the knife he was using to eat and pressed it slightly to the old man ribs. He looked surprised at the action, to what Cullen only said, “I could press the knife a little more and let you bleed until you are dead. So you better be more respectful to that waitress, do you hear me?”, the man was scared and just nodded. Cullen left to his table very pleased.

He finished his sandwich and waited for the elven woman to collect the money. It must had passed ten minutes before she came back, shaking and with her eyes red, _she was crying_.

“It…It would be three silver coins” she said softly. He left the money on the table and as she reached for it, he took her hand gently.

“He won’t be troubling you again” he reassured to her. There was a surprise on her eyes, and then a slightly pink blush on her cheeks.

“I…I don’t…I don’t know what to say, but thank you” He just smiled to her as she left. He looked at the other table to make sure that the other man wasn’t going to harass her again. The man left the coins on the table and left the place, to what Evaneil looked far more relaxed than before.

Cullen left the place towards his home, feeling that at least he had helped someone.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating, i had a writter block, but i finally found my inspiration.


	6. Strange Crushes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evaneil faces some problems, some of them about her feelings towards her new neighbor.  
> And have some scientist working.

 

Her feet ached with every step she took, the shoes not being comfortable enough. As soon has she reached the building, she took them off, climbing the metal stairs barefoot. The first thing that she noticed as she made it to her floor was the letters at the side of her door, just three of them, but Evaneil recognized the golden letter, with the seal of the Ferelden bank. _They want their money back,_ she thought.  The elven woman took the letters and walked inside her apartment, and left herself fell on the little couch, tired and sleepy.

She opened the letter of the bank, and she felt more frustrated with every word she read.

“ _Miss Lavellan,_

_We’ve been having troubles with some of our clients, and we need as soon as possible the money you borrowed from us. We had to change forward the limit date, shorten the five years to six month. If the money is not back at the end of the seventh month, your house and other properties will be acquired by us, as a part of the payment. And if the price of the house is not enough, we will be obligated to substrate other belongings, and take all of your salary until the debt is paid._

_With the changes, we expect five thousand golden coins a month._

_Have a good evening, Bank of Ferelden._ ”

FIVE THOUSAND GOLDEN COINS! How was she supposed to get them? On the café Evaneil earned with luck thirsty silver coins and on the cabaret, Two golden coins per hour. It was impossible for her to get all the money, and even if she sold her home, there was still no way to pay the debt.

She had only two options. Take more shifts at the café…or work more hours at the cabaret, even doing some especial requests. She would have to opt for the cabaret, if she wanted to get the money on time.

Evaneil sighted, desesperated for the situation that she was on, resigned to it.

She took the other letter, which was from Mister Sulivain, but it didn’t say anything strange, just schedules for the show and the theme of each one. And some sketches of the new lingerie that they were making for the dancers.

The last one was nothing but political propaganda, which came from those extremist, the venatori, and it was very odd, considering that they were extremely racist with any other races. The poster that came inside had a man with a flag, the imperium flag, on its hand, and above it said “LET’S MAKE THEDAS GREAT AGAIN!”  It was enough to make Evaneil throw it into the garbage.

That day had been very long, and the bank’s letters just made it worse. She had almost made it to her morning shift a quarter of an hour later. The traffic was horrible during the morning, the bus had been stuck on the street for half an hour, but thanks to her little obsession of being on time for everything, she had left her home twenty minutes earlier.

And when she had arrived, the police officer had started to flirt with her, and it was awful. “You are as beautiful as a human, but with pointy ears” _So like an elf_ , she had responded. “You are so sweet that I won’t put any sugar on my coffee”, She had laughed, not on his face, but inside the kitchen. It was the most terrible pick up line she had heard in all her life, and she had heard very bad ones. 

But then, there was that accident with that old son of a bitch. He had touched her; harass her, in front of the whole cafe. Evaneil felt so humiliated and then he had told her that he would be waiting for her outside, in order to spread her legs and give her an extra payment. She had never felt that intimidated, and with what happened last night, it just made it worse.

She wouldn’t negate the warm feeling that grown on her chest as Cullen step down to defend her from him. . . “If you want me to punch his face, you just have to ask” he had said, and she just didn’t really believe him, thinking it was just another attempt to flirt with her. But then, he had threatened the old man, to make him stop, and creators, she was surprised and…grateful towards her neighbor. It was the first time on a long time since another man actually helped her. Cullen gave her a very reassuring smile that deleted any doubt that she could have about his true intentions.

Well, it looked like her new neighbor was a gentlemen and respected women…and he was very handsome, with those hazel eyes and curly blonde hair very good styled, broad shoulders and strong arms _, and creators…that sexy scar on his lip_.

_WHAIT, WHAT?_

She had just sounded like a teenage girl that had just seen her first crush. He was a good man and very handsome, nothing more. It wasn’t like she was developing a crush on him. She was just surprised and impressed. _Fenedis! You aren’t a little girl, and you just have known him for two days_.  Evaneil covered her face to hide from herself the sudden blush that crossed her face, not being able to understand herself.

 _“It is impossible for any man to love you, you weren’t made for that, the only purpose of your life is to spread your legs and please them”_ , Sulivain had said to her some time ago, and he had reminded her that on every occasion. Cullen probably only sees you as the pretty neighbor that should be protected so she can fell for the nice guy.

_Evaneil, you are a stupid girl, just stop thinking about it!_

She had to her mind away from those thoughts and think about what was she going to do to get the money. First of all, she had to speak with the owner of the café and then with Sulivain.

She spend the rest fifteen minutes speaking with her boss, who said that he had already every shift covered, and that she had already taken more than a half of them. If there was something Evaneil truly didn’t want to do, was to speak with Sulivain, which only meant that he would give her some new jobs, like the one of last night, and the thought of it made her sick.

She called him with the old telephone, wishing that he wouldn’t be working right now. The phone sounded until she could hear that devilish voice that the young girl was too familiar with.

“ _I hope this is an important call, I’m quite busy at the moment_ ”, Mr Sulivain sounded quite annoyed.

“Mr Sulivain, its Evaneil, I’m sorry for disturbing you but-“

“ _Ah! My lovely withe swan, what can I do for you?_ ”, He sounded like she had to be very quickly if it wasn’t important or something that could displease him.

“I’m having some troubles with the bank, and I wanted to, um…work some extra hours, if there wasn’t a problem with that”.

“ _Oh! But that’s wonderful, you can work two extra hours on Friday and Saturday, and three extra on Sunday, and I have some really good news to tell you! Those important gentlemen were captivated with you; they left with a very good impression, some of them wished to have some special services with you. Of course some of them negotiated to take your maiden-head, but they didn’t really match our money account. The special services would be like being a sexy waitress or like a human statue, others asked for a private show. They did offered a good amount of money for the others dancers and they did offer more for you. If you were an intelligent woman, you would accept_ ”, He knew she didn’t have a choice, but he liked to humiliate her by making it sound like she asked for it.

“I…I accept”, There was no way of running from it.

“Good! Then I’ll see you on Friday and I’ll tell you the events and the payment. Have a good night my little swan”, the phone stopped sounding and there was a silence on her apartment.  There was only sorrow left.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“So, you are telling me that this is like lyrium, but nuclear-modified?” Cullen felt surprised, but now he understood why it had felt so familiar. The elven doctor was looking through the microscope, and Dagna was looking at the radioactivity charts that had been done with the results of the electricity experiment with the substance.

“Well yes, the minerals that form it are quite unstable; leaving some of the lyrium extremely radioactive, but the color is really odd”. He looked at the radioactivity chart, “The color should be more violet, since blue is already radioactive, but red does not give this much of nuclear energy. Maybe the energy is just too concentrated, making the x-rays not being able to be seen”. Solas handled the microscope to Dagna, “We should make some tests with organism to see its true nature, since lyrium is used as a drug, and this type should be used like that too”.

“If the lyrium is too unstable, it could infect the cells far more that the normal type. If my suspections are true, the lyrium atoms may fuse with the carbon on the organism, and spread like a cancer or the maker knows what” Dorian said as he looked the small bottle that had a piece of the drug. Cullen didn’t like the sound of it, if normal lyrium was already bad; he couldn’t imagine what the red lyrium could cause.

 “I’m pretty sure this thing is radiating a lot of nuclear energy, so I’ll put it on the insolation area, and I’d recommend that you all take a good bath when you make it back home” Dagna warned them and laughed as she pointed her hair that was levitating, “And be careful with the static energy, it can give you some awful hair styles”. Dorian laughed at her comment.

“I’ll come back on Friday, is that enough time?” Cullen asked. He needed to know the effects and how was it modified, especially if it was seriously harmful to people.

“More than enough my friend”, the tevinter man nodded at him, Cullen said goodbye and left the laboratory. With this he would have a lot to do, calling Cassandra and telling her about the red lyrium was his priority.

And then there was that thing with the grey wardens. It may not be related, but taking extra precautions isn’t bad thing. He would have to ask Varric and then speak with Hawke, since the man was quite familiar with the wardens, so he could probably know one thing or two. He would have to speak with them on the hanged-man, the night club that most of the people visited to do their dirty business. Hawke was a good man, and so was Varric, but they loved to attract troubles to themselves, sometimes just for fun and other times for money.

Cullen just made it back home, hoping that he could advance more on his investigation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It didn't really took so long, i feel like writting from Evaneil POV is far easier than from Cullen.  
> I hope you like this chapter and don't forget to leave kudos and comments, they give me the motivation to surpass my shyness when it come to writting.

**Author's Note:**

> My first long fanfic.  
> Probably has a lots of mistakes since english is not my first language, it it will improve.  
> Where is Dorian taking our little Cully-Wully?  
> Find out in the next chapter.


End file.
